THE VOICE at TCA: Live-Blog

THE VOICE will return to its original coaches for its fifth season, and to celebrate that, the reality series will be paneled at the Television Critics Association.

Follow along with our live-blog now!

4:55 PM: What strategy do the coaches have now that Blake has won three times? “I actually coming back to the Blake Shelton Show,” Christina Aguilera jokes.

“I don’t like it,” Adam Levine says. But in all seriousness, Levine says “winning is great, and trust me I hate the fact that Blake won three in a row” but it’s much more important to prep the artists for their actual career.

4:58 PM: “I went in holding hands with these guys, and I didn’t really know what to expect,” Aguilera says of when she signed up the first time. She says she watched an episode last season and got sucked into the auditions and understood why fans dig the series. “It’s nice to see I’m part of a show that has stayed true to the talent.”

“We’re huge fans of the show,” Levine says. “We wouldn’t do it otherwise.”

5:01 PM: How did it feel to have other people taking their spots? Aguilera is grateful, saying she needed a break. “Thank God for Shakira,” she says. “She did a beautiful job.”

5:03 PM: “If your intentions are good…I think people can see through stupid media hype,” Levine says of people taking things out of context, such as his sarcastic “I hate America” comment.

Carson Daly says it’s “refreshing” that these guys talk like real people, calling it a “rarity.”

“Part of my personality is to say things that are going to piss people off, and that’s fine,” Levine says.

5:05 PM: On the lack of a “real star”: “We all know the lightning in a bottle you have to capture is an extraordinarily difficult…the fact that it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t seem like a short-coming of the show, it just hasn’t happened yet,” Levine says.

Daly emphasizes that part of the role of the show is the experience, even for those who don’t get a chair to turn. The goal of the show is to launch a career, not just a one-trick pony. Aguilera points out that she herself didn’t win STAR SEARCH.

“If you’re not in the negative in this business, you’re succeeding,” Levine says.

5:10 PM: Why come back? “There’s a second show behind the scenes of the show that’s for another network,”Aguilera says of being amused by her castmates. “It’s a cool experience [to meet the new talent].”

CeeLo Green says, “Everything about this show is so positive and so progressive and positive energy to be a part of.” He praises the organic family, and that he “really missed the family a lot.”

Levine says that though he hasn’t taken a break, he probably needs one, but he’s just a little too insane to take it.

5:13 PM: Green says he’ll be going back to Vegas next year.

5:14 PM: “As producers, we look at that format,” Daly says, but they’re careful to not  tinker with things too much. “It’s hard to be cool and popular.”

5:16 PM: “There could be something coming up,” Daly says of format tweaks, but nothing major.

5:17 PM: Green won’t rule out bringing pets on for the new season. Apparently snakes are a no-go, though.

5:19 PM: Do they agree with the winners of the show? “Of course we agree with who the winner is because they’ve managed to capture the attention of the country,” Levine says. He admits there are personal biases when your own team is involved, but it’s a selfish thing.

5:20 PM: “To have a show like this that goes from shitty singers to great singers is easy,” Daly says of what the talent pool of season 5 brings. To go from really good to freaking great is where the show is now, per Daly, and it’s clear these guys have been watching the show..

5:21 PM: As Daly is talking, Aguilera gets excited about “TLC”…but she meant to say TRL. It leads to a lot of laughter from Levine.

5:23 PM: FYI, Blake Shelton isn’t here because he’s in concert.

5:24 PM: And we’re done!